Democrats worry that Biden's power players are not in his campaign base

With less than ten months to go until the 2024 election, the nerve center of President Biden's bid for a second term is not at his campaign headquarters in Delaware, but just feet from the Oval Office.

The president and his chief strategist, Mike Donilon, have repeatedly discussed when he would be moved to the campaign — perhaps after the 2022 midterm elections, then after the 2023 off-year elections and again at the end of 2023. Each time, there came no movement. happened after the president told aides he wanted to keep Mr. Donilon within walking distance.

Anita Dunn, the Democratic operative who stepped in four years ago to revive Biden's fledgling operation, is reframing the reelection message even as she oversees White House communications. Jen O'Malley Dillon, White House deputy chief of staff and Mr. Biden's former campaign manager, also splits her day job with her role as one of the campaign's most powerful voices.

So far, almost no one from the president's inner circle has left for the campaign headquarters in Wilmington, Del., prompting some donors and strategists to worry that too much of Biden's team remains cooped up in the White House. Less than a year before Election Day, the president faces a campaign with two different focuses, advisers juggling two jobs at once and months of internal debate about when to bring everyone together in one place.

A campaign spokesperson dismissed concerns about the campaign structure, noting that former presidents have sometimes left top political advisers in the White House.

“We invite anyone concerned about the existential threat that Donald Trump and MAGA Republicans pose to our freedom and democracy to channel their energy toward organizing, donating, and talking to their friends about the stakes of this election.” , said Kevin Munoz, the spokesman.

But the situation has led concerned Democrats, including some within the campaign itself, to privately and publicly urge Mr. Biden to step on the gas. That includes former President Barack Obama, who discussed the urgency of the 2024 election and the structure of the president's campaign with Mr. Biden in November, according to several people familiar with the discussion. The Washington Post first reported the conversation.

In interviews with more than a dozen Democratic operatives, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss campaign strategy, several said they worried a split campaign would contribute to a slow start to what will be a fierce battle for a second term. should be. John Morgan, one of Biden's top donors, said the hand-wringing came from Democrats terrified by polls showing razor-thin margins for Biden in battleground states, as well as the potential of former President Donald J. Trump's candidacy.

“That's why you hear so much, you know, driving in the backseat,” Mr. Morgan said. “Because we all think we have the answer. And you know, the campaign is getting tired of listening to donors, political operatives and so-called experts.”

At the same time, he said, Mr. Biden's recent speech in which he directly attacked Mr. Trump, a day before the anniversary of the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, was evidence to him that the campaign was beginning to respond to the concerns expressed by his supporters.

“That was red meat. That is what the donor class wants and thinks is necessary,” Mr Morgan said.

Fear within the parties has been increasing for months. Last spring, Mr. Biden named Julie Chávez Rodríguez as his campaign manager and sent her to his hometown of Wilmington to launch the reelection effort. Since then, the head office workforce has slowly grown; it now employs about 80 full-time employees, according to campaign officials.

But most of the president's top White House advisers have not budged, even as the political calendar has moved on. People familiar with the dynamics within the White House said Biden enjoyed having them close and that the advisers were nervous about how their departure would affect their influence over the president and other colleagues in the building. can influence.

Andrew Bates, a White House spokesman, called it a “widespread hobby in Washington” to talk about a president's staff, adding: “During every reelection campaign, there have been senior advisers in the White House who have focused on with related political issues. within the rules.”

Polls show the president has struggled to revive his approval ratings over the past year, even among key Democratic constituencies such as young people and minority voters, despite an improving economy and slowing inflation. A Gallup survey found that Mr. Biden finished the year with a 39 percent approval rating — which the organization called “the worst of any contemporary president heading into a tough re-election campaign.”

Other surveys, including a New York Times and Siena College poll late last year, show Biden narrowly beating Trump.

Matt Bennett, co-founder of Third Way, a progressive think tank in Washington, called concerns about the campaign's structure “just a perpetual political narrative” but said the public's nervousness about the president's position was real and should be addressed. addressed. seriously at the beginning of the election year.

“Everyone is nervous,” he said, “and the downside risk is not Mitt Romney becoming president. It is that the republic is collapsing, and so people are really afraid.”

Mr. Biden's campaign officials said decisions about staffing and the timing of hiring at headquarters and in battleground theaters were driven by a plan to conserve resources until Americans pay attention.

“The president's campaign is doing the important, early work of building our coalition and will continue to scale up as voters begin to think more about next November's elections,” said Mr. Munoz, the campaign spokesman.

With the Republican primaries starting Monday in Iowa, the Biden campaign is starting to ramp up its senior-level staffing. On Thursday, Ms. Chávez Rodríguez announced the hiring of three veteran Democratic strategists to lead Mr. Biden's reelection efforts in battleground states such as Pennsylvania, Michigan, Arizona and Georgia.

And last week, Mitch Landrieu, the former mayor of New Orleans and former lieutenant governor of Louisiana, left his post at the White House, where he oversaw the president's infrastructure spending, and will take a senior position within the campaign.

Sarah Longwell, a Republican anti-Trump strategist who is working to get swing voters to vote for Democrats this year, said the Biden campaign needed to do a better job of fielding an army of surrogates who can convince Democratic voters that Mr. Biden deserves another four years.

'You have all these young women. You have these incredibly impressive swing-state governors. Get your people out there,” she said, noting that Sen. Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina, “goes on Fox News every night to talk about why Donald Trump is the best, and so is everyone else .”

“Sooner or later, getting on the campaign trail,” she said, “is what this moment demands.”

That shift is already underway, campaign officials said. Mr. Biden has stepped up his campaign appearances this year. And new television ads are planned for January in battleground states, as part of a $25 million campaign launched last year.

James Carville, the blunt Democratic strategist who managed Bill Clinton's first campaign for president, said Democrats should spend less time running their mouths and more time supporting the campaign's efforts to put Biden in the White House hold.

“The DNC, the state party chairs, the workers, the progressive interest groups, they all want a seat at the table,” he said. 'You can sit down, as long as you keep your mouth shut. I'm old and I can say it because I'm already here, but that's the truth.

Reid J. Epstein contributed reporting from Des Moines, Iowa.